First of all, before you read on, what would you say that satans plan is?
This past fast Sunday there was a lady in the ward that bore her testimony about one of her sons who had strayed from the Gospel and she talked about all of her attempts to bring him back and how she just wanted to force the Gospel on her son then she said that she could see why Satan's plan (forcing people to choose right) would have been so tempting. I thought that was interesting, and then later that day i overheard someone consoling the same lady by saying something like, "you'll be suprised at how many chances every person will get to turn to Christ" and that she thought that many if not all people would be redeemed in someway. The woman was almost offended at her comment and said, "be careful, remember that it was Satans plan to save all of God's children".
These comments really caused me to think. First of all, the idea that Satan was trying to force people to choose right did not seem to fit his modus operandi here on Earth. Secondly, can we really trace the goal of saving all of God's children back to Lucifer!? I think that people wrongfully trace it back to Moses 4. In the first verse of the fourth chapter it quotes Satan as saying, "Behold, here I am send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it". I think that this statement is more reiterative rather that declarative. When I picture the Grand Council, I imagine Heavenly Father presenting His goal, saving all of His children, and saying, "who will volunteer for this assignment and how will you accomplish it". I don't think that Heavenly Father went into it saying, "alright, any ideas for what to do and how to do it?" I believe that it was a prerequisite, for any proposed plan, that all of God's children be saved. We know from Moses 1:39 that God's plan is to save His children. All of His Children. If we don't believe that it is God's ultimate goal to save all of us then I we undoubtedly have miss the boat.
"The eternal plan of the Lord, the gospel, is to save and exalt all of his children, from the first to the last man. Any other view is of a merciless, cold divinity. presenting an insurmountable handicap in life's efforts. True religion is marked by the doctrine that salvation, that is, unedning happiness and joy, is within the reach of all men and will be measurably reached by all. The gospel offers eternal hope to every soul, in spite of weakness and failure and folly." - John A. Widtsoe
So, what made Satan's plan so rebellious was not his desire to save all of God's children, but that he wanted all of the glory for doing it (Moses 4:1, Doc & Cov 29:36). It's also funny that if a person assumes that it was Satan's plan to save all mankind, what do they think Christ's plan was!? To save only a select few!?
To address the second issue, many members of the Church believe that Satan's idea was to force all of God's children to follow the commandments during mortality (Moses 4:3). So, if nobody sins, everbody makes it back to God's presence? Doctrinally, that is an impossiblity because we needed to be lifted above the state we were in in pre-mortality and in mortality...redemption is the only way and that wasn't part of Satan's plan. J. Reuban Clark Jr. said, "Satan's plan required one of two things: Either the compulsion of the mind, the spirit, the intelligence of man, or else saving man in sin." In other words, Satan's plan may not have been to force us to choose right. Instead, his plan may have been one of allowing people to do whatever they want without consequence or accountability. President Clark said elsewhere, " Lucifer is back where he was at the time of the Grand Council when he would have taken away the agency of man, save them in their sins, indeed there would have been no sin." 2 Nephi 2 - especially verse 13 refutes this possibility. According to Lehi, oppostion is what makes agency, progression and growth possible. If Satan's proposal was to do away with right and wrong, then it also must have consisted of altering or eliminating the eternal forces of oppostion and therefore change the dynamics of eternity. Satan was attempting become a law unto himself (Doc &Cov 88:34-35).
I also thought that if Lucifer's plan in pre-mortality was to take away our agency by making us believe there is no consequence for sin then wouldn't that be his same tactic now? I looked at three of the anti-christs in The Book of Mormon to see if their strategy was the same as Lucifers in the Grand Council.
Sherem - denied the necessity of a Savior. (Jacob 7:9)
Nehor - rejected the notion of accountability and consequences for our actions when he taught that "all mankind should be saved" regardless of their choices. (Alma 1:3-6)
Korihor - claimed that "there should be Christ" and that "whatsoever a man did was no crime". (Alma 30:12,17)
Elder Spencer J. Condie said, "There was an additional selfish flaw in Satan's plan. Because his plan allowed for no mistakes it required no atonement for sin, and thus he could save his own satanic skin from any suffering." Satan's plan could never produce the faith necessary to save us.
I hope this gives you a new view of Lucifer's plan then and now.
-janson
